RESIDENT EVIL: BOOKER FERRY
by Dixon Holmes
Summary: SET BETWEEN RESIDENT EVIL MOVIES 2 & 3. WITNESS THE BEGINNING OF THE VIRAL GLOBAL OUTBREAK...


_The incident of Raccoon City, was only the beginning…_

_Nobody ever suspected that the outbreak of the T-Virus would have spread as far and wide as it did. Within three months it spanned nearly five states, leaving naught but destruction in its wake…_

_Three years had past and the government believed the virus to be completely eradicated, and Umbrella Corporation, the world's biggest company in pharmaceuticals had been held responsible. At the head of the corporation was former research analyst Albert Wesker. Wesker was given the order of disbanding the company and halting any ongoing research. Wesker watched helplessly as the stocks for Umbrella plummeted; leaving no hope for it to gain its footing…_

_All had seemed well and in order up until the late spring of 2009. That's when the world seemingly stopped for the small metropolis known as Booker's Ferry; settled into the northern foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Booker's Ferry was a popular stop on the way up to the Canadian border…_

**May 12****th**** 2009…**

The camp was filled with laughter as the group of young adults celebrated their graduation from college. Three of them were looking into law enforcement, and the oldest one of twenty six years stood up, "Guys, I want to offer us all a special congratulation on becoming full fledged adults, we've graduated college and now we are nearing our full potential and if I may say so, our destinies, as we now move into our specific careers. And to add to the celebrations I've gotten something just for the occasion." He reached behind him and pulled a large bottle out of his bag, "I've taken the liberty of buying us all a bottle of whiskey. Now don't worry there's a bottle for each of us. Now lets party!" And he started to pass out the bottles to each individual, saying, congratulations to each.

The party waged on into the night and as the moon waxed behind the darkening clouds the group began to feel the urge for sleep, brought on more heavily by the large amounts of alcohol that had been consumed, and one by one they each retired to their own tents for the night, only to part ways in the morning., This continued for the next hour until there were only two young men left awake, talking as they finished off the last of the whiskey drinking shot for shot with each other, and the night continued to wear on. Nearing two in the morning, the younger one looked at his watch and said his final farewells and well wishes and retired to his own tent, leaving the oldest awake staring at the stars.

The following morning came early, and in some respects too early, as a young woman awoke and walked out of her tent, in dire need of the outhouse. She walked by the oldest hunched over in his chair and she thought nothing of it, as the call of nature was too strong for her to resist. Luckily the outhouse wasn't far away and she found it unoccupied. As she opened the door to return to her tent she heard a low growling in the forest, there was something eerie about it, and the hair on the back of her neck rose, she ran back towards the camp out of plain fear. Her sense of fight or flight had kicked into overdrive, and the adrenaline was now pumping through her veins.

As she reached the edge of camp she started calling to the oldest, "Tom, I think something's out there. I heard growling by the outhouse." As she moved to his side, he appeared to make no notice her arrival. She shook his shoulder to get his attention. The smoldering embers of the once roaring fire dimly lit the man, and she looked on in utter disbelief as something right out of a horror film had become reality.

Tom now fully bathed in the dim light, could be plainly seen as his body was riddled with bite marks and blood streaming from them. He let out a moan and reached out grabbing her by the arm pulling her close, biting down hard into the soft flesh of her shoulder, and her blood curdling scream filled the air.

Fifteen miles away the bustling metropolis of Booker Falls continued their lives blissfully.

**May 15****th**** 2009…**

Charlie and Andrew had been friends growing up, they had their differences, on quite a few things, but they seemed to make the pair all the stronger for it, they had went through college together, and then Police Academy after that. Then five years onto the force the two had been partnered up, it was something they had always joked about. As they walked out of the Starbucks Coffee house Andrew's cell phone rang, he answered it quickly, "Wall." Charlie could hear parts of the conversation from the other end of the phone, "Yes sir, Captain. We're on it." Hanging up the phone he looked at Charlie, "Cap wants us out at Mt. McLaren campsite. Apparently there's evidence of foul play, and we have six missing college students." Charlie nodded, and both hurried off to the sedan.

As they sped off towards the campsite Charlie flipped on the news radio, and listened as he prepared himself for the worst possible scenario. The news story caught his attention. _"Today Albert Wesker former CEO of Umbrella Corporation announced that the full disbandment of the company was final. And he also added this;"_ Wesker's voice could then be heard emanating from the cars stereo _"As of today Umbrella Corporation has been finally dismantled, most of our scientists have been offered other jobs for other companies, and we have agreed with the terms set forth by the United States to fully investigate-"_

Charles switched the radio off, "Something about that just makes my stomach churn. Umbrella Corporation fully gone? That almost seems too easy, what do you think Andy."

"Gibbs, I think that this is a good day. No more Umbrella means no more repeats of Raccoon City." Andy commented, referring to the big incident that they both had followed while in the academy. They both felt sorrow for the police that had lost their lives there from the maniacal cannibalism brought on by radiation leakage from the nuclear power plant owned by Umbrella. Then when the explosion of the plant occurred they were dismayed by the amount of innocent lives lost, driving them harder to make it as officers.

Charlie looked at Andy and chuckled every time he heard that nickname it brought a smile to his face, his given name was Charles Gibson Hatfield, but most of his friends called him Gibbs, referencing the TV show where a character with a similar name was rarely seen without a cup of coffee, much like Charles, and the name stuck. "Well, either way, it still leaves my gut churning."

"Your gut's always churnin' bro. No matter what it's about." Andy chuckled, "Like that B and E last month, your gut was churnin all over that too, and it turned out to be harmless right?" Andy thoroughly enjoyed picking on Charlie's gut.

"One of these days man, you're gonna realize that my gut churnin is a good thing." He commented as they turned into the campground. The smell of copper filled the air, "Hey," Charlie said, "You smell that?"

Andy nodded, "Yeah copper. And the mine has been sealed off now for almost thirty years. I was camping over here not even a year ago with my other half and I didn't notice this last time." They pulled up to the campsite, and stepped out of the car. The smell grew stronger as the two ducked under the crime scene tape.

Charlie nodded, and moved towards the center of the scene. The two looked around taking in the initial images, half-burning them into their minds. As the two detectives looked around Charlie's gut started churning again, this time it was worse, it almost felt like cramps in his stomach. "Andy, doesn't this look familiar?"

Andy nodded, and spoke softly, trying to work past the lump in his throat. "Yeah, reminds me of when we were freshmen in college."

Charlie agreed, "Right, Mike and James Williams, the two brothers that went canoeing for the weekend, never showed up for class on the following Monday."

"Yeah their canoe was found two weeks later, looking similar to this, and neither were seen or heard from again." Andy motioned towards the campsite. There were blood stains on the tents; two of them were shredded with large holes in the low roofs while the rest lay in heaps on the ground. There were several blood stains and drag marks on the ground. "Whatcha' think Gibbs? Bear attack?"

"I don't know, it doesn't quite look like it, the cooler has still been untouched-" Charlie knelt down next to the large cooler, "Except for this," He pointed at the white plastic top, there was a contrasting deep red hand print on the top, "This certainly is not a bear track."

Andy nodded, "Judging from the amount of blood I'd say there's at least one fatality, possibly more."

Charlie nodded in agreement, "Yeah but where are the bodies? There's all this blood but no physical bodies to account for. Sarge!" Charlie hollered over to the highest ranking uniformed officer there, "Your men find any bodies of the victims?"

"No Detective, none whatsoever," the sergeant replied.

"Alright, have your men do a grid sweep of the forest, I want to know what these trees know." The sergeant nodded and Charlie turned back to Andy, "You know that gut feelin?"

"Yeah," said the older man.

"It's churnin real bad now," Charlie sad as he looked off towards the foreboding darkening forest. His stomach was practically doing acrobatics, and somewhere off in the distance above the chatter from the uniformed officers and his partner, Charlie could have sworn he heard a low trembling growl.

**May 23****rd**** 2009…**

"Alright that's enough, everyone settle down." Angela said as she walked into the large class room, she had been a high school teacher for nearly four years now and has been seeing Andy for nearly two, she still found it amusing that before class began all the students seemed to separate into their different cliques, and it reminded her a bit of her own school experiences; A "loner" as she had been called for years, but she didn't let it bother her, because it allowed her a unique perspective on the schools student body.

It was that title that allowed her to see how each of the cliques interacted with one another, as well as within each group itself. And still to this day she believes that's why she chose to get into psychology. There had always been something about the human mind that mesmerized her. It was always changing, never the same two days in a row. Constantly growing, evolving. However since Spencer High School already had a psychology teacher she fell back to her minor in college, biological science.

"Now as per many requests from the class, we are bestowed with a great honor, especially those who wish to learn more about the future of science a little more. Formerly from Umbrella Corporation in the research department, Dr. Deborah Harrow has been kind enough to allow us a day of Q and A's as she reveals to us the hopes and dreams that we may all accomplish in the scientific community." Angela motioned for the door for the Umbrella scientist to enter, and the students began to clap.

"Thank you Ms. Stevens, I am happy to be here to answer your questions about my work, and also to see how many of you are interested in working for a better tomorrow." She continued while brushing a bit of her bleach blonde hair out of her face, tucking it neatly behind her ear, and beaming a smile to her young audience.

One of the students in the back raised his hand, "Dr. Harrow, what was it that you used to do at Umbrella?"

Her smile dimmed slightly as she spoke, "I used to be in the research and development division, it was there that we worked on several projects, that I myself had a large part in. Mostly it was to find a cure for various diseases and illnesses such as cancer, Alzheimer's, and even a vaccine for pneumonia. We would take strains of the illnesses, and alter them, making them more resistant to antibiotics and we would try to develop a vaccine for them."

A young woman who had the ambition to be a reporter asked a question that hit the young doctor like a brick, "What happened to the strains after the cures were found, or if there wasn't one attainable? How were they…uh… disposed of?"

Her smile now faded more than she would have liked, it gave her following words more weight and demanded deeper attention. "As for that I assure you, we have taken every precaution that we could imagine to keep those under strict quarantine. They are sealed into containers, which are then placed inside lead canisters which then are welded shut. All of this happens to maintain the safety and health of the public and the employees of Umbrella." Temporarily satisfied the young woman nodded, jotting notes down in her notebook.

The next few sets of questions went by without hitch, and were answered swiftly and thoroughly, with the young doctor trying to tie up all loose ends and keeping more serious questions from arising. But it was then that a young man in the front, who hadn't asked a single question, not for the lack of them, but from the fact that his eyes and mind had wandered to an area that left him daydreaming. He stood up and asked, "Dr. Harrow, how familiar are you with the Raccoon City nuclear radiation leak? Can you tell us what really happened, because I find it hard to believe that a technician forgot to tighten down a valve?"

This question brought the whole classes' attention to the subject that had been lingering in the back of their minds, none of them had wanted to ask about that tragedy, but now that the can of worms had been opened they all listened intently waiting for a response.

Dr. Harrow was shocked by this man's question, it had taken several executive members to devise that cover story, and this young man had seen through it. _Wow, they are definitely going to be cut out for the science world especially once Mr. Wesker gets Umbrella reassembled._ She thought to herself while trying to find the right words to detour the question without making it seem like she was dismissing the curiosity of the students.

Frankly the answer never came as the doctor opened her mouth to speak she saw something strange out the classroom window. There was a woman walking in a strange fashion towards the school, her clothes were covered and caked with mud and muck, it had looked like she had crawled her way through the forest, and Dr. Harrow thought that she could even see remnants of blood mixed in with the dirt and grime on the woman's clothes and skin, and she moved closer to the window for a better look.

The rest of the class as well as Ms. Stevens, now curious as to what had caught the doctor's attention turned and looked also, they too saw the woman and it occurred to Angela that she looked much like that of a woman that was reported missing on the news. She watched as the woman continued to move towards the windows of the class, which were open for the students to enjoy the fresh air that came with late spring. Angela listened intently waiting to hear for a call for help, but it never came. She reached for the phone sitting on her desk and began to dial Andy's cell.

As the phone rang a third time the woman had made it to the edge of the school building and reached in the windows grabbing the doctor, who in turn screamed, which sent the students in a quick scramble away from the windows to the other side of the class, except for a select few who tried to wrestle Harrow from the woman.

As the students pulled on the doctor, the woman bit deep into the underside of Harrow's arm, drawing a great deal of blood, which most of the students could tell meant that an artery had been hit. The students that were trying to help, now shocked by what they had just seen let Harrow slip from their fingers, and be drug out of the window, and they watched on in helpless amazement as they watched the woman be bit into repeatedly. Harrows cries for help had simply turned into blood curdling screams of pain, causing mass panic from the students on the other side of the room.

"An- Ange-" Angela watching all this in paralyzing horror, heard Andy's voice coming through the phone, "Angela! What's happening? Are you alright?" As the screaming from Dr. Harrow stopped the students now felt a whole new level of fear. They looked to Angela Stevens for guidance.

Her voice was soft, barely above that of a whisper, replied, "She's gone. Pulled out the window and is just gone."

**May 25****th**** 2009…**

"Its now been three days since the attack on Spencer High, and authorities still haven't given a statement to the effect, And we are unsure how to classify it, was it a mere act of cannibalism? Or was it something more, something more sinister-" Andy flipped off the small portable television and turned to Charlie. They had temporarily requested use of an interrogation room for a little more privacy, while working on this particular case.

"Can you believe this? They're already screaming conspiracy and cover-up and we don't even have a clue what happened." Andy said as he walked around the table, abruptly tossing the open folder that he had in his hand.

"Go figure it's the media, they're gonna push for answers in this manner hoping that its going to light a fire under our investigation. Meanwhile we are still waiting on the autopsy reports from the Jane Doe, and Dr. Harrow." Charlie said as he turned in his chair to look at Andy, who now took up his usual pacing around the room.

"Yeah, I know and god only knows how that's going to turn out, the M.E. can't even determine a time of death on the Jane Doe, with the exception of she died almost two weeks ago, and he came to that conclusion from the coagulation in the blood; but is not possible since Jane Doe attacked Dr. Harrow, only two days ago. Gibbs, I think we have one helluva confusing case on our hands."

"Yeah, I know. This is something we haven't dealt with yet, not since we've been on the for-" Charlie paused. "Andy, remember the news reports coming out of Raccoon city, how there were the string of murders that could have been related to cannibalism?"

"Yeah I do what about it?" Andy asked, now curious as to what Charlie was on about.

"Since the city was destroyed from the supposed nuclear reactor breach, we can't requisition the files from there, but I wonder if we can find the news reels somewhere. Cause I think that this might be related to that same incident."

A brief knock on the door interrupted the two men as a uniformed officer poked his head in and said, "Detectives, There is a woman here looking for you, she looks like a fed."

"Aw Hell, alright Tennant show her into the interview room next door. We'll see her in there."

"Yes sir," and the lieutenant and left as quickly as he came. Andy and Charlie looked at one another and sighed, they knew that if the feds are poking their noses around that the investigation wouldn't be theirs much longer. They both closed the open file folders and exited the room. But before they could make it four feet from the door they were intercepted by the lieutenant and the mystery guest. She was wearing a long slim red dress, with a slit in the side all the way up to her hip. Just the fit of the dress had both detectives giving her a quick look over, as she was indeed quite attractive. The officer didn't say a word, but the guest did,

"Detectives, is there a place we can talk and review the case you are working on. My name is Ada Wong."

There was something about that name that rang bells for both Andy and Charlie. They both had heard the name before, they were certain of it, but in what context, escaped them.

"Right this was Ms. Wong." Charlie said as he motioned towards the room that the two men just exited. Charlie was hoping that this woman would be able to shed some light on the investigation.

Once inside the interrogation room Charlie walked around the other side of the table, picking up several pictures and began laying them out as he spoke. "Nearly two weeks ago, in a campsite just outside of town, a group of college graduates celebrating turned up missing, we had every reason to suspect foul play." He laid the images of the crime scene out for the guest to view. "So far we haven't had a lot of leads on the case; except for the fact of we have four missing people."

"Three." Andy spoke up.

"Three," Charlie corrected himself, "The fourth turned up in a very suspicious manner; attacking a former Umbrella researcher at Spencer High two days ago." He began placing images out from the school incident, "She dragged the woman through an open window, and commenced to eating her flesh. When officers arrived on the scene, they shot and killed the woman, and both were sent down for autopsy." He pulled out the autopsy files from both victims, and handed it to Ms. Wong. "According to the medical examiner, Dr. Harrow indeed died at the scene, shortly before the officers arrived. Jane Doe, is another story. Coroner puts the time of death around two weeks ago. And my partner and I are still trying to understand how a woman who had been dead for two weeks, walks into town, attacks, kills and begins to devour another human being."

At this point the woman in red hung her head and uttered only a word, barely audible, "Zombies." And in the back of her mind thoughts raced, _I thought Umbrella wiped it out with Raccoon City, how in gods name did it spread this far this fast? If it continues at this rate how will it be controlled? Something must be done to keep the viral outbreak to a minimum. And it must end here, now._

She glanced up to the confused curious looks of the two detectives. "Alright here is what you need to know." She stated in a matter of fact tone. But before she could continue Charlie interrupted.

"I'm sorry; did you just say something about Zombies? That's only in movies. I'm not about to fall for this shi-" but was cut off when Ada raised her voice slightly.

"Yes I did say zombies, and if you want to survive you would be wise to listen to what I have to say detective." This made Charlie close his mouth, he wasn't sure if it was the tone of her voice or the flash of concern and rage in her eyes that made him listen, but he did. "Now here's what you need to know, back in 1994 Umbrella researchers were working on a way to overcome death, and reanimate dead cells. Needless to say they were successful."

The two detectives listened on, "There was a snag; the virus only reanimated, a part of the cells. And it mutated, turning from a helpful cure, into a deadly contagion." At that point the captain and a man in a dark grey suit and sunglasses, walked through the interrogation room door, and the captain spoke.

"Alright, if you two are done chasing wild geese, you have something more important to do, like real detective work. Ms. Wong, An associate of yours is here. Thank you for your, unique insight on our case, however our detectives need fact, not fictional fantasy stories about zombies, attacking people." He glared at the two detectives and the man in grey waited for the woman to join him. Ada took a brief moment to shake the two detectives hands, slipping something into the jacket pocket of Charlie and gave him a wink.

"I'll see you boys around I suppose." And she turned and exited. Leaving the detectives more confused than they had been before.

"No more ghost stories, you two have been working this missing person's case for two weeks now. I've got the Chief of Detectives coming by this afternoon and he is going to want an update on the case, I expect you'll have made at least some headway by then. If you don't then you will pass off the case onto the missing persons department. This is not something for my two rookie homicide detectives to be working on. Do we understand each other?"

"Yes sir," the response came from both younger men who then hung their heads in frustration and waited for the captain to leave the room. Then Charlie fished into his pocket to retrieve the item Ada slipped him. Andy looked on in suspense as Charlie looked at it,

"Well? What is it?" Charlie handed it to him saying,

"It's a business card." Andy looked it over and flipped it to read the back, and see what had Charlie so confused, he looked down at the words, nearly each syllable burning itself into each detective's mind, "When you're ready to learn the truth." They looked at each other and Charlie put the card back into his pocket. As they turned their attention back to the case files, Andy asked, "What do you think it means?"

"Something tells me we'll find out soon; whether we're ready or not."

**May 30****th**** 2009 …**

"What in the hell is going on in this town?" Chief of Police Sheppard yelling at the room full of commanding officers, captains, senior detectives and sergeants alike. "We have a city wide spike in crime rate, and it all seems to be centered on our homicide division. Captain Masters, what do you have to say for your unit?"

Aaron Masters stood up and addressed the question, "Chief my entire unit is working round the clock to find answers for you. But without a medical examiner or most of a forensic team we cannot be certain. We know that anytime the assailants have been encountered they have claimed at least two lives for every one of assailant we eliminate. These things don't seem to be huma-"

Chief Sheppard shook his head, "Your detectives had better close this case, before there's no city left for them to be fired from. Do you understan-" There came a pounding on the smoked glass window, and all officers attention was drawn to it, it had been smoked to keep reporters from sneaking shots of the meetings. But now several figures could be seen huddling together around the window, the next hit to it, left a blood smear down the window. This brought the whole room to a silent alert. Armed men had drawn their weapons, unsure of what was going to happen. The next hit sent shattered glass into the room, showering the few members of brass that were close enough. Then came the sight that none of them were quite ready for. Mutilated was an understatement as a description of the beings that began to climb in through the windows. Many of them had large chunks of flesh removed from their bodies, including their necks, faces, arms, chests, and the imagination allowed for more possibilities.

The men in the room began moving to the far end, yelling for the intruders to stop. The chief could be heard yelling the loudest, "Stop where you are or you will be fired upon." And still the bleeding, desecrated beings advanced, the chief stepped forward yelling with a more forceful tone in his voice, "Final chance, stop or you will leave us no choice but to fir-," in an instant two of the creatures charged the chief tackling him and biting deep into his shoulders, several more joined them on the floor and began to feast on the chief.

Captain Masters was the first to pull the trigger, and what ensued could only be described as D-Day crammed into one moderately sized conference hall. The sounds of erupting gunfire was deafening, the room in a moment fill with the smell of sulfur from the gunpowder. Bodies began to fall and the creatures continued to advance. Agonizing screams could be heard over the gunfire, as more officers fell to the onslaught. The survivors began to turn and run for the doors, looking for means of escape. As the gunfire continued, more of these creatures seemed to pour unendingly into the room, each one severely damaged, each wound bleeding profusely, their eyes glossed over, most of them resembling that of corpses. The officers continued to fire upon the creatures, which continued to fall and keep coming. In the midst of the battle of everlasting carnage, one of the officers reached for his radio and pressed the button.

"Assistance needed at fifth and Prescott, officer's down, need immediate backup. I repeat, backup assistance at fifth and Prescott officers dow-" Those were the words that came over the radio's of each officer in the squad room of the homicide department. Andy and Charlie looked up from their respectively held files, dropped them, and in the same moment grabbed their radio's and headed for the door.

Charlie drove from the precinct, and it though it was twenty minute drive the two had made it to the conference hall in almost five. But to those officers those were the longest five minutes of their lives, it wasn't but three hours earlier that Captain Masters had left for the weekly brass briefing. And it was at that conference hall that the meetings were held every week. As the two detectives stepped out of the car, they heard the fast approaching sirens of the rest of the department arriving to come to the aid of their fellow officers and friends.

The gunfire could be heard from the parking lot which was now nearing capacity, and every officer emerging from their vehicles, not pausing to close their doors ran toward the hall, Andy and Charlie nearing the front of the group. Every side arm was drawn, and loaded. As the officers pooled around the door to the conference room they noticed that the firing had stopped, now the only sound that was filling the room was the screams of the injured brass. With a mere look of readiness the doors were breached.

Each officer was ready to take a life. But nothing, not the years of the most senior officer on the force, nor the training that the military had graced several of the officers with, could have prevented them for the sight that beheld them once inside. The gore and stench that greeted the officers inside only solidified the idea of D-Day and the beaches of Normandy. Bodies were laying strewn about some were piled upon others, in a protective manner. There were large chunks of flesh missing, and to add to the sulfur smell from the spent rounds, the large amounts of blood added a very obvious smell of copper to the air.

Several officers began to duck back outside the room, in an attempt to hide their uncontrollable vomiting. Others began to move hurriedly toward the heaps of bodies, frantically searching for survivors. Andy and Charlie stood there virtually paralyzed at the mere sight, unsure of joining the officers vomiting, or those moving corpses searching to identify the dead and surviving officers. And perhaps it was what had allowed them the opportunity to see what the others had missed. A slight movement from the far corner of the room, buried under the bodies of several of the creatures that now seemed to be even more mangled than the others of their kind.

"Andy." Charlie said and moved towards the corner. But Andy was already on his way.

"Yeah I see it." And they began to move the bodies, uncovering the broken remains of their captain, still breathing but barely, from first glance it looked like he was only exhausted, but upon closer inspection the two rookie detectives noticed that the captain's breathing was shallow, and each breath was drawn with a sharp hiss. When Masters' eyes fell upon his two newest detectives he let out a soft smile.

"Go figure, the rookies would be the ones to find me." He coughed harshly and a trickle of blood ran down the side of his lip.

"Captain, what happened?" Andy asked, Charlie just watched on silently. Charlie was still disturbed from the sight before him.

"I don't know it happened so fast. One minute I was being told to find answers to the missing person's case, the one you two are working. The next thing I know, these things started coming through the window. There were so many, they killed the chief, we engaged, I ran out of ammunition and was bitten multiple times by these deranged people, I lost consciousness, and next thing I know you two are uncovering me."

As the two detectives continued to uncover their captain, they heard a low moaning off in the distance. "What's that?" Charlie said as they slowly dragged another body off Captain Masters.

"I am not sure." As they moved back towards the captain they heard him say,

"We heard that same sound only moments before we were attacked, keep a sharp eye." The captain drew a sharp breath. And both rookie detectives looked on with concern.

"Captain…" Andy started, continuing to move the next corpse off his commanding officer, and in such action revealed the full extent of Master's injuries. The man's right leg had numerous large chunks missing from it, and he was bleeding profusely. And from the amount of blood, both detectives had heard and read enough reports from the medical examiner that the femoral artery had been punctured, if not had a piece of it completely removed. There was no doubt left in the young men's minds, their captain was very near the end of his life, with the reaper's scythe closing in faster with every passing moment.

"Listen rookies," Captain Masters began, "You don't have much time, the moaning signals their arrival, they apparently can smell the spilled blood. You have to get out of town while you can," Then he raised his voice for all to hear, with moderate difficulty, drained by his fatal wounds, "All of you, Get out of here while you can. RUN! Run for safety all of you!" This drew the attention of the entire room, all of the officers that had been uncovering and identifying the bodies of the higher officers, they all turned to the dying man's words. "Its too late for us, you all need to run! Go Now!"

The two men then heard something that made the hair on the back of their necks stand on end, there was a low moaning that sounded much closer than what they had been hearing, too close for their comfort. As they began to scan the room for the source, they didn't see anything immediately, but that was when the captain fired a round between the two's heads, the shot startled them both who fell to the floor and turned.

What the Captain had shot was the last that either of them had expected, it was one of their own, who had several severe bite marks in his arms and one in the side of his neck. Now the middle aged man would be sporting a bullet wound to the skull to his funeral. The two men looked back to their Captain,

"There's an armory just a few blocks east of the precinct, its below the impound lot, in the basement. You're going to need the keys. Here take mine," he said weakly and handed them to Andy. "Arm yourselves well, and get out of the city. Don't let them bi- bi-" The captain struggled to get the word out.

"Bite?" Charlie asked in attempt to fill in the word.

The captain nodded and then with his last breath sighed, "You." And Captain Masters died. Among a pile of dead bodies chunks of flesh missing from his legs, it was less than a respectful death. The two men hung their heads in mourning, and respect for their fallen comrades. They allowed a moment of silence, then stood.

"Alright Charlie, you heard the captain." Andy said as he backed up away from the bodies. Charlie turned to follow,

"Yeah, lets head over to the armor-" Then Charlie felt something grab his leg, and he jumped and gave a startled yell.

Andy jumped and turned, searching for the commotion, but he wasn't ready for the sight that greeted him; There was a hand around Charlie's ankle, which Andy didn't hesitate to shoot, freeing his partner, who moved quickly to his side. "Thanks, I owe you one." Charlie said, but that was only the beginning. Bodies across the room began to twitch and shuffle as if being electrocuted, as they returned to life. And the moaning began once more from inside the room, and it covered up any sounds from outside.

"You know that one you owe me?" Andy asked.

"Yeah?"

"I'll be collecting another time, lets get the hell out of here." And the two turned and moved to the exit as the other officers in the room began the second round of firing weapons laying cover fire and falling back retreating with as must haste they could muster.


End file.
